Racing Nocturnes

racing nocturnes.  

I am obsessed with the soul causalities of  kin-folk.  We are all emotionally mutilated to some extent or another.  Breeding forces us from birth to be a part of limiting dynamics.   We can find ourselves at constant discomfort freeing our identity from our beginnings and accepting our genetic infrastructure all within the same moment.  We cut some strings, while others we weave a bit tighter.

Parallel to this exists our involuntary inherit spirit.  Call it natural instinct, call it sin.  This restless feral energy simmers until it  boils over onto the calm façade we manicure and groom so methodically.   We force illusions of its dormancy onto our perceptions, though this fauna…. will always hold fast with a steady pulse. 

I find a heavy gravitational pull to these inner conflicts within us all.  The hidden far unconscious corners of our minds can navigate us through these conflicts, but we try to-no-end to elude them.    We’ve fashioned for ourselves a great many distractions in forms of false control over the incontrollable roots of our inner workings.  

I feel that dreams release us from our crafted distortions and allow us to have a moment of honesty…  A very layered moment that is both intimately and individually tailored to it’s dreamer.   This to me has always been sacred, incapable of being fully shared, and therefore the only part of you that is truly yours.

Thanks to everyone who came out and who helped me during this whole process.  Special thanks to Ian Shelly who pushed me past my self defeatist attitude and made me push my talents, and to Emily Sheehan who was so patient with me and who brought her endless knowledge and love for experimentation with media and anatomy into my life.  Also thanks to my honest and complex friends- Ben, Ariel, Holly, Rebeka, etc who help me travel into their worlds, and to Rebeka for being such an important part of my growth this semester.  Excited to get involved with more of the staff at IUS and proud to be in such a solid program.   I feel that I can really push myself to the places I want to go thanks to the amazing students and staff here. 

*steps off soap box* 

Zoë Allison

She's here, and she's a keeper!  What a sweet lil bear :)  The Traughbers are rather smitten.

Holding Milo's hand. 

Singing Skinamarinky Dinky Dink to Zoë 

Smitten Uncle Ben. 

Milo kept playing with her hair.

Ah ha!

Biggest news first!

ZOE ALLISON IS HERE!   My lil middle-name-sake has come into the world surprisingly early!  My sister went out to eat with all the boys and her husband when all of a sudden contractions started coming every 20 minutes.   I had my phone off (it died, as it always does due to my neglect).  So I wake up this morning, checked facebook, and boo! there is Zoe!    What a healthy lil lady with those adorable cheeks!  I get to go see her in a few hours and plan on my heart completely dissolving.

She looks a lot like my sister when she was a baby...  But she's definitely already Daddy's lil girl as my brother-in-law is already as smitten as it gets :) 

I dragged everything that wasn't already in the living room upstairs to show Emily my progress.  She came over and stayed quite a while helping me work through my ideas on how to wrap up my pieces.   I think this week is going to be more relaxed and enjoyable than I thought.   I got a lot of work done last night and plan on a late night tonight, but mostly this weekend I've spent more one-on-one time (or maybe one-on-two time) with the kiddos and tried to clear my head of anxieties.

Ben helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my Granny's old weaving frame (she made it in highschool... she's my great grandmother).  I have my other two tiles at school in the display case, so I'll have to snag those. 

Decided to add some Parker touches to tease her a bit.  

For both of these pieces (this one and the one before) I want to use stain and watered down paints to finish- same colors I've been using in the drawings. 

Birds got some forms.

I have been looking for a black iron clothing iron with no luck. So the rabbits will be playing aroudn the domestic ironing board.  This ironing board is sooo old, one of my favorite finds.  Here is the vintage fur and leather I'm using for the ears.  Tall bunny got legs last night, bless his legless heart. 

Popes looking washed out, but getting super close to finished! 

Close to finished dream panoramic... with the popes creepily looking through the mirror. 

Ben's Gemini coming together.  Just need some shading, a bit of color, and heavy line work. 

oh dear... this one has been a struggle.  It's on the bottom of an old drawer.  Lots to do with staining the bones (going to be a bird figure behind the boy) and fixing the young child/figure.  I think with the size and simplicity it won't take long. 

I have a clear vision of what needs to happen, but it's hard because I'm reaching a spot where I'm over the work I've done.  Where I need to go next is becoming clear, and I'm getting antsy to start on some new pieces soon!   I hope to take ceramics next semester and a figure drawing class.   I think the figure class will really push me to some beautiful places.

Ben and I got out all my work from my first drawing class.  whoa.   In just a lil over a year I've travelled a very long way!   It just makes me wonder where I'll be in 6 more months... a year, etc.  I definitely recommend taking that trip down memory lane to remind yourself that the work and devotion pays off.  Most of all, it'll keep paying off.

Last night I did some tricky work on the legs to my largest rabbit figure.   I'll be wrapping that up tonight.  Each piece is already hollow and starting to dry.  They have been drying so fast!   Excited to get them fired this week *fingers crossed*.

I had a set back with work due to Parker's health this week.   She had been sick off and on for about a month.  As soon as she seemed better, I'd get an email from her teacher that she wasn't eating and seemed lifeless.  Then it came to a head as she had a bit of an asthma attack.  Of course we had no clue what was going on, just that she couldn't breathe well and was listless.  An urgent care trip later and we got our answer. She does have asthma.  Poor baby.   She's doing well now, especially since we know what we're dealing with.  & I am proud of her for learning to listen to her own body, as I found her sitting out of playtime at school and she explained to me "I needed to rest my breathing".

At last (after 6 yrs) she's letting me fix her hair!  She made Ben take a photo of the braid so she could inspect it haha.  Excited to try different braids with her.  I never had hair long enough to braid, so this might take some research and trial and error. 

 & the kids and I started "Traughberscouts"...  aka we're making a craft project every week and having snacks and talking about what's important to us that week (instead of doing a pledge).  We made this holiday wreath out of scrap fabric I had and one strand of grape vine.

Round Up

http://bentraughber.com/album/feed

^Ben just posted some new music^

along with finally putting out some of his ink drawings

 I've been super busy and manic...  I have about a week left to round up all these loose ends and make it happen.  I dragged every piece up to the living room so I can multi-task hanging out with the kiddos and working.  Late nights.  Lots of coffee...  and more coffee....  and yet more coffee...

The first round of hand-painting 150 or so porcelain spiders.

Practice install for the spacelab show.  My friend, Megan, suggested that I carry the web out further and down to the floor as well.  You have no clue how excited I am to run with that idea!  It'll be in a corner next time and Brian helped me tweak the lighting.

Plans to play with the shadow more... 

And rabbits are coming to an end...  The last two get hollowed out and some legs and finishing details tonight! 

My rabbit/horse/cat/wolf/dog fell asleep with her nose in Ben's school book.